Before, then After
by BakaNeko96
Summary: Before Hogwarts, Harry was miserable and lonely. Then, his letter came, and things were so, so much better after. 50 short sentences depicting Harry's life before and after magic became a part of his life.
1. Chapter 1

**Before, then After**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing original to the HP universe. I got the inspiration for this from KuraiArconis - check out her page for awesome stories.**

**Each chapter will contain 5 ficlets. Enjoy~**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**Family**

_Before:_

"Isn't Diddykins the best son you could ask for?" Aunt Petunia said to Piers' mother during one of their afternoon tea get-togethers; and Harry cringed in his cupboard, because what was he but a useless, ungrateful freak to the Dursleys?

_After:_

Harry couldn't stop the grin that came when Remus and Sirius both ruffled his hair and when Mrs. Weasley forced another plateful of roast onto his plate while Mr. Weasley gave him a knowing wink from across the table.

**Laugh**

_Before:_

Harry curled up tighter into a ball as Dudley and his gang towered above him, snickering cruelly in anticipation of the pain they were going to cause the freak.

_After:_

Ron and Hermione sidled closer up to Harry from either side as they tried to contain the laughter at the botched-up prank Fred and George Weasley had somehow managed to land themselves into; they were now both sporting elephant trunks and kangaroo feet.

**The End**

_Before:_

Clutching his worn blanket to his mouth, Harry tried very hard to muffle his sobs, because no matter what Uncle Vernon said, he didn't want to die, even if it meant without his freakishness, the world would be a much better place.

_After:_

As the Resurrection Stone fell from his hand, and the images of his parents, Sirius and Remus disappeared; Harry took a deep breath, whipped off his Invisibility Cloak and walked towards the clearing to face Voldemort one last time.

**Cry**

_Before:_

Petunia couldn't be bothered to brood on it – because it was probably part of his freakishness anyway – but when she did unwillingly brush upon the subject, she could not for the life of her seem to be able to remember the last time that freak cried.

_After:_

George Weasley frowned as he saw Harry slumped in the corner of the common room a few days after his name came out of the Goblet, then sauntered up to the boy to give him a good old fashioned Weasley cheering up (because Ron was still being a prat, and no one else seemed to notice) – all the while wondering where on earth had Harry learned to cry without tears or sobs.

**Parents**

_Before:_

"-and if being worthless wasn't enough, Lily had to go marry that useless drunk. She even had the nerve to die and leave her ungrateful brat with us!" screeched Aunt Petunia, as Harry did the dishes, trying to pretend that he didn't hear her and that the words didn't hurt him one bit.

_After:_

"Your mother was a genius at Charms – she even modified a few to make James talk backwards for a week and turn his hair pink that one time he tried to flirt with her. It took weeks – and a hell lot of chocolates – for your father to get on Lily's good books again," said Remus, and Harry didn't stop the silly smile that came.

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><p><strong>I love, thrive and crave for constructive criticism and reviews. So click that button down there, it won't hurt you.<strong>

**And if you guys want, I take suggestions for theme words/phrases too~**

**X3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: You know, if I really were J. K. Rowling, the Marauders would have at least one member still alive – and Peter does not count.**

**Thanks to MCat and GudingHand for their reviews, and GuidingHand for numbers 6, 7, and 8.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**6. Floorboards**

_Before:_

Somehow, Uncle Vernon had never figured out that Harry had pried loose a few floorboards under his cot in the cupboard, and Aunt Petunia had never discovered the missing food in the pantry that was currently residing under those floorboards.

_After:_

Harry sighed happily as he looked at his parent's photos one last time before moving to place the photo album under some loose floorboards in Dudley's second bedroom, along with the birthday goodies his friends had sent him throughout the years.

**7. Merry Christmas**

_Before:_

"Here, boy," grunted Uncle Vernon, handing Harry a clothes peg, "Merry Christmas. Now go sit in yer cupboard and let us normal folks have dinner without yer freakishness."

_After:_

"Harry! You've gotta wake up!" yelled Ron as he jumped up and down at the foot of Harry's bed, "It's Christmas! Time to open our presents! Wake UP!"

**8. Play**

_Before:_

Harry's smile dropped as he was shoved away, then – shoulders slumped – he walked off to a lone swing, wishing someone would just come and play with him.

_After:_

Harry dragged Hermione to sit on the floor of the common room, and then proceeded to cajole the young witch to play Exploding Snap with him and Ron –she really needed to relax before she went spare with all that studying.

**9. In Sickness**

_Before:_

Groaning, Harry valiantly tried to ignore his pounding headache as Aunt Petunia screeched at him to hurry up with the weeding, because he still needed to paint the fence and clear the shed.

_After:_

Madame Pomphrey gave Harry's pale and shivering form a once over, before pushing the skinny boy onto a cot, shoving a vial of Pepper-Up down his throat and warning him that if he so much as thought of moving from the bed, there would be hell to pay.

**10. Dogs**

_Before:_

Harry was getting really tired, but he couldn't let go of the tree branch just yet – not when Ripper and two of Aunt Marge's other dogs were still growling viciously at him at the bottom of the tree.

_After:_

Sirius' eyes took on a mischievous gleam as Harry recounted his meetings with Hagrid's Hellhound, Fluffy - his dogfather was probably going to introduce Padfoot to the three-headed dog sometime soon for one of his nefarious plans (and Harry laughed because he never knew dogs could be this fun).

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><p><strong>Yo!<strong>

**Here's part 2. Reviews are still appreciated.**

**Though number 10 didn't turn out quite right...**

**I'm still open to suggestions!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo.**

**Thanks for all the support so far! XD**

**Now, MCat just pointed out how...grim these last couple chapters have been, and I agree. So, this whole chapter is dedicated to her!**

**Now, here are 5 (hopefully) light-hearted ficlets!**

**Assume I have a disclaimer.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**11. Treats**

_Before:_

Harry glanced around the kitchen, making sure none of the Dursleys could see him, then turned back to the hot pan and carefully, carefully sprinkled some dried, powdered dead spider onto the eggs (and Harry had to smother his snickers with his shirt when Vernon praised his aunt for the wonderful seasoning later).

_After:_

It should have been ingrained into Harry's reflexes already, with the number of times Ron told him not too; but Fred and George were sly, and Harry wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings (because he was ogling Cho as she practised _Protego_), so he had accepted one of their evil Canary Creams – The Boy-Who-Lived was now the Big-Fluffy-Canary.

**12. Story**

_Before:_

He never ever told anyone, but at night, when he was locked in the cupboard, Harry would take out a crayon, an old scrap of paper and create stories of his own – and he made that magical beasts and knights and damsels were the main characters.

_After:_

Lily and Albus tugged pitifully on their dad's sleeves, with big puppy-dog eyes while James had wrapped his arms around Harry's waist, each of them begging their father to tell them just one more bed time story, _please_, and could it be about the one where the damsel saved the knight from the dragon?

**13. Pet**

_Before:_

Harry turned the jar over in his hand, and decided to call his new pet spider Napoleon – just like that cool French General he learned about in History the other day.

_After:_

The snowy white owl perched on Harry's shoulder cocked her head elegantly as the boy named her Hedwig – a name he had found in one of his schoolbooks.

**14. Girls**

_Before:_

Girls were probably all icky, a six-year-old Harry decided, if all of them were going to kiss him on the cheek just because he stood up for them when Piers pulled at their pig tails.

_After:_

Girls were definitely not icky, sixteen-year-old Harry decided with a blissful sigh, as Ginny dragged him into an unused classroom to snog him senseless again.

**15. Hair**

_Before:_

Harry was almost definitely sure that he was going to give Aunt Petunia a burst vein, if the way she was going on about his untameable hair for the past one hour or so was anything to go by.

_After:_

Ginny let out a frustrated breath as she once again (as she had for the past five years of married life), tried vainly, to give some semblance of order to Harry's hair – she was not going to a reunion party with a man that had a sorry excuse of a bird's nest for hair, and like it or not, every strand on his head was going to obey her! (Five hours later, at the party, people stared at the beautiful young, Mrs. Potter who was holding on to her husband who was sporting a very red face and an almost bald head).

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><p><strong>...I have no excuses for number 14. None at all.<strong>

**...**

**Meanwhile, at the reunion party:**

"**Why, Mr. Potter," greeted McGonagall, "I do believe that this is the first time I've seen you without that rat's nest on your head. You look quite...unique."**

_Then:_

**Snape's portrait just stared at him for a moment, then snickered. (Harry would've hexed the man off the wall if it wasn't for the fact that he was hearing the Potions master **_**laugh).**_

_And;_

**Albus just smiled, his eyes twinkling maddeningly. "Ah, the sacrifices we must make to please the lady of our life," he said. Harry's left eye twitched.**

_Next:_

**Hermione had to drag Ron off by the ear because he couldn't stop laughing. Ginny just smiled at Harry, daring her husband to make a comment.**

_Finally:_

**Luna smiled dreamily and asked him if he had finally gotten rid of the infestations of nargles that had been living in his hair. Harry's eye twitched again.**

**(Thankfully, all his hair managed to grow back by morning, much to his wife's ire.)**

**...**

**I couldn't RESIST!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**...eheheh? Sorry for the extremely late update?**

**College just started and well...stuff happened. Oh well...**

**HAPPY VALENTINES AND CHINESE NEW YEAR!**

**GONG XI FA CAI!**

**16. Hide**

_Before;_

Harry was used to being ignored; the Dursleys, barely noticed the boy when they weren't giving him grief, and school was no different – everyone pretended that Harry wasn't there, until he really wasn't.

_After;_

Minerva McGonagall wondered how he – for someone as irrevocably famous and recognisable as the Boy-Who-Lived – had always managed to hide in plain sight, and watched Mr. Potter standing still next to a pillar whilst the others tried to look for the boy in vain in a game of impromptu hide-and-go-seek.

**17. Flight**

_Before;_

Harry dreams sometimes, about scratchy beards tickling his face and giant flying motorbikes and that wonderful soaring feeling of crisp, night air brushing across his face and wonders sometimes, if it would be so bad to wish it were all true?

_After;_

Mounting his Firebolt, Harry pushes off the ground and soars into the air, relishing in that exhilarating feeling of cool air brushing across his face and the beautiful feeling of freedom that always came with flight.

**18. Wish**

_Before;_

If he had just one wish, Harry would wish for courage to run away from the Dursleys once and for all.

_After;_

If he could have just one wish right now and never again, Harry would wish for everyone he loved to stay safe, even if he had to die facing Voldemort.

**19. Good-bye**

_Before;_

When he is six, Harry remembers Aunt Petunia grudgingly dressing him up in a second hand suit and taking him and Dudley to a funeral – and Harry remembers not understanding why almost everyone was sobbing their goodbyes to a man sleeping in the wooden box.

_After;_

Punching the stone wall, Harry ignored the stinging pain across his knuckles, and fell onto his knees – he just wanted to see Sirius one more time, and maybe, just maybe, be able to say sorry and good-bye.

**20. Chaos**

_Before;_

Sometimes, Harry can't see the point of having friends only to make fools out of themselves in public

_After;_

As Hermione lectured Ron yet again for disputing her theories on house-elf liberation while the Weasley twins attempted to slip some unsuspecting first-years some Canary Creams before Percy could shower his wrath on them, Harry sunk deeper into the couch he was sharing with Dean and Seamus and thought that life couldn't get any better right now despite the chaos his friends brought with them everytime.

**COME ON PEOPLE, REVIEWS!**

**Meanwhile, throw me a few ideas along the way why don't ya?**


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